


Brothers in Arms

by EdgarAllenPoet



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Age Swap, Gen, I cant watch season three for another three weeks, Keith and Matt- unlikely friends, Matt POV, What if Pidge was the older sibling that went to space?, and I'm suffering, broganes, older Pidge, so this is the result
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-08-07
Updated: 2017-08-13
Packaged: 2018-12-12 06:10:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,108
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11731095
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EdgarAllenPoet/pseuds/EdgarAllenPoet
Summary: When the Kerberos crew goes missing in space, Garrison cadet Matthew Holt struggles to deal with the loss of his family.  He's almost willing to believe the Garrison's stories, until he meets ex-cadet Keith Kogane and joins him in his fight to figure out the truth.





	1. Chapter 1

Matt found out about his family long before the Garrison told him. It was Tuesday when the rumors started flying around, murmurs in the hallway and whispers during classes, something happened to the Kerberos mission. Something bad. 

At first Matt didn’t pay them any attention. For one, lectures started at seven-thirty in the God damned morning, and he had just enough energy to scrape through Death by Power Point. He couldn’t spare any on his fellow cadets. 

Besides, rumors flew around all the time. Rarely about Kerberos, after all this mission was a big deal, and Takashi Shirogane (aka Garrison Golden Boy) was on board. It was also a father-daughter mission, which had been played up for publicity, back in the day. But students had liked Commander Holt, and Pidge hadn’t been unpopular. People had a bit more taste than to joke about something like that. 

Or, Matt had thought so. But the further the day crept, the louder the whispers became. Something happened. Not responding. Do you think they’re dea-

It was hard to ignore the conversation on everyone’s lips, even when nobody was saying it to him. They threw him looks instead, pitying glances. Don’t tell Matt Holt. That’s his family up there. 

“What happened?” he finally demanded, grabbing someone in the canteen and pulling them off to the side. They tried not to answer, but Matt had inherited a fierce glare from the rest of his family, and he knew how to take advantage of it. The guy swallowed hard. 

“Someone in engineering let it slip,” they finally answered. “They sent drones out to Kerberos months ago. The landing site was destroyed.” 

Matt went back to his dorm room after that, leaving a tray of untouched food behind in line and wandering out of the room with dead eyes. The landing site was destroyed. Destroyed. They sent drones out months ago. 

It had been a year and a half since the Kerberos crew had taken off. He had a picture from that day tacked to his dorm room wall, of his older sister and him standing together, mere millimeters away in height and almost indistinguishable in their Garrison uniforms. Katie was still a cadet, technically. The report she was writing on Kerberos was to be used as her senior thesis, the thing that would make her a Garrison engineer, officer status and all. 

She and his father had left early into Matt’s first semester at the Garrison all of those months ago. It took seven months to fly out that far, the safest they could manage with human cargo. The drones they sent could get there faster. 

Technically speaking, the story he’d been told lined up. 

Matt was taller than her, now. He’d been sixteen in that photo of them. The Garrison had an early ensign program if you could pass the tests (Matt could), promising cadets under eighteen wouldn’t see battle while they were still minors. It was a funny thing to have to promise. The Garrison was a space program, similar to the NASA institution they taught about in history books. While it was military, yes, it wasn’t exactly the Marine Corps. 

Actual warfare was rare. 

After signing a treaty that swore off all missile targeting from space, there really wasn’t much room for battle. Going to Kerberos looking for ice samples had been a big deal. 

But that all didn’t make sense. The landing site had been destroyed. 

 

…

 

The Garrison told Matt two days later. He didn’t report to any of his classes, didn’t go to meals, skipped morning and afternoon PT sessions. He should have tried to carry on as if things were normal; after all, he only knew rumors at that point. But he needed time to process. He needed time to figure out how he was supposed to handle this. He needed to decide whether or not he believed it. 

A digital message straight from Iverson pretty much made his mind up for him. 

“Have a seat, Matthew,” Iverson said when Matt entered, motioning to the chair across the desk. His computer screen was turned sideways, displaying three still pictures. Katie, his father, and Takashi Shirogane. 

Matt barely heard a word of Iverson’s explanation, something about pilot error and never made it to Kerberos and we’re very sorry, but these are the risks we take. 

They’d already spoken to his mother that morning. He could have the rest of the day off from classes, and free access to the phones to call her if he pleased. 

Matt couldn’t process the information being thrown at him, didn’t know how to respond properly. They’d never made it to Kerberos, Iverson said, but the landing site had been destroyed. 

Matt stared slack jawed at the screen, at Katie and their father smiling, unblinking, the both of them in their space suits smiling and bright eyed. Next to them Takashi Shirogane stared gravely at the camera, face the poster of military seriousness- they’d used his Officer’s picture, not a space suit picture like the others. They’d really pushed how remarkable it was that he was a young pilot. 

Pilot error. 

It wasn’t much of a stretch. 

“What about officer Shirogane?” Matt found himself asking, mouth running away with him before he could filter through the words, before he could even wonder why he was asking that. Commander Iverson blinked his good eye once, confused. Matt pressed on. “Does his family know?” he asked. 

Did they tell them it was pilot error as well? Could they place the blame on their son like that, right in the parent’s face? 

Iverson sighed and clasped his hands together on the desk in front of him. “Takashi Shirogane has no family,” he said. “But that is none of your business, cadet. Take the day off. You’re dismissed.” 

 

…

 

“Keep up your studies,” his mother told him. “Don’t lose hope.” 

Matt did his best to follow her instructions. He went to class. He showed up for meals. He worked harder than he ever had in physical training, harder than he even had in Basic. He spent long nights cooped up in the library, and when he finally crawled back to his dorm for light’s out, he was exhausted enough to crash. 

Rinse, repeat, do it again the next day.

Mostly, Matt tried not to think about it. 

Weeks passed by and Kerberos went from being hot news to old news. It was still a tragedy, still a wound to everyone at the Garrison and everything they worked for. But the crew was missing, there was pilot error. The mission had failed. 

With those three things regarded as fact there was little more to say on the situation. 

Rumors of ‘destroyed landing sites’ and ‘missing drones’ were quickly refuted as myth. People lost interest. It fell away from their minds. 

Matt had to repeatedly shove it from his mind on the daily. 

There wasn’t anyone to talk to about it. His friends were sympathetic, if not wildly hesitant and at a total loss for how to deal with the situation. The more Matt shut them out, the farther they stepped back. That was fine. He wasn’t much for conversation these days. He spent all his meals in the canteen alone. 

His grades improved, but it would be sad if they somehow dropped with all the extra effort he was putting in. His sergeants applauded his renewed drive towards his physical aptitude tests. Next month Matt was supposed to join a team and start simulations. He was nervous about that. 

Pilot error, they’d said. Something went wrong mechanically- that would have been his father and his sister’s job, as head and assistant engineer. That’s the school Matt was studying in. Nobody would want him on their team after this tragedy. 

He was a little scared he wouldn’t be able to set foot inside a simulator anyways. 

It was four weeks after the announcement that a new rumor made itself known, this one not as emotional but a lot closer to home. Matt hadn’t seen it happen, but Christ, he wish he had. Keith Kogane was expelled for assaulting a superior officer, was the official report. 

Keith Kogane had broken Iverson’s nose.

He called him a lying bastard and punched him right in the nose.

You should have seen it! There was blood everywhere.

They tackled his ass to the floor and slapped handcuffs on him. 

Man, I can’t believe Iverson didn’t murder him right there. You know he’s hit students before, right? Slapped them right across the face. Taste of his own medicine, really. 

They found stolen files in his dorm. Stuff he hacked from The Garrison. 

Stolen files? Like what? 

You really think they’re going to tell us that. 

Matt didn’t see it go down, but he definitely heard about the aftermath. The academy was buzzing with excitement over it, cadets and officers alike carefully avoiding staring at the white strip holding Iverson’s nose in place. 

Honestly though, Matt wouldn’t have noticed Kogane missing if nobody had told him. 

He knew him by name and nothing else. He saw his simulation scores, saw his name at the top of all the exam reports. He heard his name passed around between professors and instructors, thrown casually around by students. 

“Hear Kogane got a 2500 on simulation six this afternoon? How’s anyone going to beat that?” 

“Isn’t that higher than Shirogane’s old score?” 

“Yeah, Shiro had a 2350.” 

“He’d sure be mad if he saw that.” 

Now the murmurs were different. Professors didn’t mention him if they could help it, which meant that his name pretty well disappeared with the rest of him. Students talked about him in awe or confusion, but not much else.

It wasn’t a big deal at first, or at least Matt didn’t think it was, until he got sorted into a simulation team. 

“Hey! Holt!” a familiar voice shouted after him in the hallway, a full two weeks after the Keith Kogane expulsion fiasco, nearly two months after Kerberos. Matt heaved a sigh and straightened up where he’d been slouching under the weight of his books as he shuffled back to his room for bed. He turned and faced his classmate. 

“What is it, Lance?” he asked.

Hunk was there too as the two boys crossed the hallway and approached him, but that made sense. They were basically inseparable, as far as Matt could tell. There had been rumors during their freshman year that the two were dating (Matt may or may not have helped those rumors along…). It wasn’t uncommon to see them together. Matt still didn’t know the full truth about that situation, but these days, he didn’t have it in him to care. 

“We’re on simulation team together,” Lance said. “I’m pilot, Hunk’s our engineer, and you’re the communicator.” 

How the hell had he been sorted into communications? He was an engineering student. Matt scowled, thinking about that, but Lance was already talking again. 

“We’re in fighter class,” he said. “Or at least I am, but since you’re my team you guys are coming along with me! Fighter class- thank the stars, no more ‘shuttle to mars’ simulations!” 

“Proud of you, buddy,” Hunk said, clapping Lance on the shoulder. Both boys were taller than Matt by a decent amount, and despite being in the same year as him, they were both two years older. Sometimes Matt wished he hadn’t joined the Garrison early. The age gap wasn’t much, but people liked to play it up. Back when he’d had friends the teasing had been unrelenting. 

“Welcome to the team, Holt,” Hunk said, holding a hand out. Whether or not he wanted to be having this conversation, he’d been raised with manners. He held his hand out to shake.

“Thanks,” he said. 

Lance was beaming. “We’re going to be the dream team,” he said. “We’re going to have so many adventures.” 

Lance seemed unnecessarily excited about flight simulations. Adventures? He doubted it. With his family’s track record, it was unlikely he’d ever be let into space at this point. They’d stick him on the ground and put him to work with coding. He’d sit in an office and try to forget about Kerberos, try not to remember how small the Earth was, when compared to all of that. 

Adventures…. Matt was already exhausted. The only adventure he wanted was sleep. Lance said something about team bonding, but lights out was quickly approaching. Matt shrugged him off and excused himself, escaping quickly down the hall and disappearing into his dorm room.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "He did eventually make it to the lab, though, and with every step he took he sent off a silent prayer to whatever Powers that Be and begged that the engineering department would still be open. "

 

“I wish they’d take his stupid name off the simulators already,” Lance grumbled, stabbing a green bean off his lunch tray with an unprecedented amount of vehemence.  Matt didn’t know how he felt about having company during lunch again.  He’d kind of gotten used to the peace and quiet.

 

“They always leave the top scores,” Hunk responded.  “Shiro’s name is still on half of them.” 

 

“Shiro  _ deserves _ it,” Lance snapped back.  “The guy is a legend.  Keith just got lucky.” 

 

Matt pushed his potatoes around on his tray and levelled Lance with a bored expression. “Yeah.  Getting expelled sure is lucky,” he quipped. 

 

“I can’t believe he actually punched Iverson.”  Hunk’s voice held something that might have been awe if they were talking about anyone other than Lance’s “rival.”  As it was, his voice was a bit breathy.  Lance scowled and stabbed another bean. 

 

“He snapped,” he said, waving his fork around.  “No self-control.” 

 

“You’re one to talk,” Hunk replied. 

 

“What is that supposed to mean!?” 

 

Matt was done listening to them. He sighed and shoved back from the table with a sigh, letting their voices wash over him as he took his tray to the drop off station in the corner of the canteen.  He left it behind and made a beeline for the door.  His new friends didn’t try to follow him.  After a week or so of being a “team,” they’d kind of gotten used to his behavior. 

 

He knew it was rude, and past Matt might have been a better friend than current Matt was.  But Matt wasn’t here to make friends.  Matt was here to graduate, get his head sorted out, and suffer through the rest of the semester- not in that order.

 

Immediately, though, his top priority was getting to the main engineering lab before his next lecture.  He had a report due later that evening, and he’d left the paperwork for it behind in the lab.  After four p.m. it’d be locked off from cadets, accessible only to officers and higher levels alike.

 

The lights were off when he got there. 

 

That was weird, but the lock still flashed green when he swiped his access key through, so it wasn’t locked up yet.  Maybe it was about to be locked up.  Maybe they were shutting it down early.

 

In which case he’d better hurry.  If he turned in another report late, Professor Montgomery was going to fail his ass.  Or sign him up for extra hours.  Matt wasn’t sure he could handle that. 

 

He tread lightly as he made his way through the lab, through the main stations and down a hallway where his data had been left forgotten in the printer.  The place was still unlocked, so it wasn’t like he wasn’t  _ allowed _ to be there.  Technically.  That didn’t mean he wouldn’t get chewed out by whoever shut the lights off and obviously wanted some privacy.  

 

There was a light on at the end of the hallway.  Two figures stood inside, visible through a heavy window, audible through a slightly cracked door.  They were bent over a computer, talking in barely hushed voices and gesturing to whatever they were seeing on the screen. 

 

Matt squinted to make it out.  Video footage. 

 

He knew he ought to just grab his papers and go, but curiosity was a powerful force that he’d never been able to master.  Why were the lights off?  Why did their body language look so tense and upset?  Where they arguing?  What were they talking about?  What video were they watching, and why did it seem like such a big secret? 

 

Matt didn’t have any of the answers he was looking for, and he knew if he walked away now, the mystery of the situation would eat him alive all night.

 

And whatever, anyways.  He deserved to have some damn fun. 

 

Matt crept closer, stepping carefully onto the edges of his feet the way he’d learned at a summer camp all those years ago.  His boots didn’t make a sound against the linoleum as he crouched down low out of view of the window and slowly approached the doorway.  

 

He ducked back into the shadows, window still insight, just close enough to make out the conversation inside.

 

“-Doesn’t make sense.  Everything is  _ gone _ .  I’ve checked the scans time and time again.  They were definitely there, but now the whole area is wiped out.” 

 

“No trace of earth technology anywhere in the surrounding space?”

 

“Not just that.  They sampled the air, the soil- there’s earth elements in the area.  They were  _ there _ .” 

 

“The labs are certain?” 

 

“There’s no denying it.  They checked in when they landed.  Mission Control was  _ there _ listening to their reports.  It’s like everything was just… scooped up and carried away.” 

 

Matt knew what they were talking about- you’d have to be an idiot not to.  The rest of the Garrison had dropped the failed mission from their conversations, either from boredom or reverence.  Matt didn’t care. He hadn’t been able to stop thinking about it.

 

This conversation was just filling in gaps in what Matt already knew, or  _ guessed _ , at least. 

 

Just to be sure, though.  Matt didn’t believe in getting worked up over nothing.  He crept closer to the window, narrowing his eyes and squinting at the parts of the screen visible between the two men’s shoulders. He could make out part of a word ‘-erberos’ and the image of a sad little drone driving in circles with a laser beam scanning the dirt.

 

Well, shit.  That was all the proof Matt needed. 

 

“Well, send it off to Iverson then,” one of the men said, voice at a normal volume that startled Matt out of his thoughts.  “Let’s lock the labs up.  Don’t need anyone snooping around until we get the system cleaned.” 

 

That was Matt’s cue to leave.  He scrambled back on carefully silent feet, tiptoeing quickly back down the hallway.  He ducked into the lab, remembering his entire reason for this journey in the first place.  There was a stack of papers left in the printer of the lab he’d been in earlier.  Perfect.  He swiped them, tucked them into the binder clutched under his arm, and flew out of the lab just as the graduate students’ footsteps started down the hallway.

  
  


…

  
  
  


After the weird experience at the lab, Matt had suffered through two mind-numbing communications lectures and ditched his hour of open engineering practice.  The robots were cool, but Matt was drained.  He had a lot to think about. 

 

He returned to his dorm room, ducking carefully out of the sight of Hunk and Lance (or, more specifically, Lance) who were pretty determined when it came to this “team bonding” thing.  Matt didn’t have the energy to turn them down right now.

 

He was  _ going _ to get a start on his engineering assignment, which was supposed to be submitted by midnight.  But his bed had been so tempting, and Matt was weak of will lately.  He shuffled into his bedroom on numb legs, took one look at his bed, and immediately collapsed under the covers- which weren’t exactly soft (military grade, and all) but felt like heaven. 

 

He hadn’t even bothered to take his boots or belt off.  Just closed his burning eyes, kicked the light switch off with his heel, and fell asleep immediately. 

 

Weak of will, as he’d said. 

 

It wasn’t until ten-thirty p.m. when he’d blinked open sleep crusted eyes and squinted at the time on his alarm clock that he started to regret his decision.  He wasn’t any more awake after his nap (did six hours count as a nap?) limbs still as heavy as they had been, but he brushed away the cotton stuck in his head and forced himself upright, determined to get his assignment done, even if it was half-assed. 

 

That was, of course, when he realized his data was still missing. 

 

The papers he’d grabbed weren’t his; they were diagrams of a flight path or  _ something _ that had absolutely nothing to do with the biochemical signals Matt was supposed to write his report on.  Those were… probably thrown out by the janitor by now, or snagged by another student, deleted from the academy computer he’d typed them on and only accessible through  _ that _ computer lab’s print history. 

 

Well, fuck. 

 

Matt gave himself thirty seconds to solidly consider having a nervous breakdown.  He sat there, tugging at his hair and staring hopelessly at the stack of useless information in front of him, and considered giving up entirely. 

 

But no.  Weak of will these days, maybe, but not a quitter.  The Holts didn’t quit at  _ anything _ , that was a fact.  He set his jaw, shoved himself up from his desk, and dug his key card out of his pocket.  He’d find a way into that lab, if he had to.  He wasn’t going to fail  _ again _ . 

 

He stayed in uniform as he snuck out of his dorm room and down the hall towards the center of campus.  In civilian clothes it’d be obvious he was sneaking around after hours, but his cadet uniform at least gave him plausible deniability. 

 

_ ‘What?  No, Commander, I was just working late in the labs.  Lost track of time, you know how it is.  I must have fallen asleep at my desk.’ _

 

That wasn’t a new excuse, but it wasn’t entirely unbelievable.  He might be able to get away with it.  

 

Getting around the guards on patrol was like a painstakingly slow game of frogger.  They were expected to be in the dorm halls by ten p.m., and lights out was enforced at eleven.  The people patrolling weren’t terribly enthusiastic about it, at least.  It was mostly young officers and the occasional security guard who probably had better things to be doing at this time of night.  Sneaking past them didn’t require skill so much as it required patience.  Matt’s was wearing thin. 

 

He did eventually make it to the lab, though, and with every step he took he sent off a silent prayer to whatever Powers that Be and begged that the engineering department would still be open.  There was no reason it should be.  Maybe janitors, or a dedicated PhD student working late. 

 

Apparently the Powers that Be were feeling generous that night. 

 

The side door to the engineering building was cracked open, ever so slightly that Matt would have missed it if he hadn’t looked twice.  He approached carefully on curled feet, poked his head through the open door, and snuck inside.

 

It wasn’t PhD students or janitors, Matt decided after carefully poking his head into every window on his way to the computer lab.  Now he just hoped that the lab he needed was  _ also  _ unlocked, and well… look at that.  The Universe was on his side for once. 

 

Matt chewed on his lip as he approached the door to the computer lab, and he pressed it open as slowly as he could bare to, just enough to see inside. The lights were off, but the room was lit up by the blue shine of a running computer screen.  Someone sat in front of it, someone  _ not _ in a Garrison uniform.  It was a girl, he thought at first.  She long hair tangled up with a bandana tied around her neck, a leather riding jacket and pants covered in dust.  Her fingers flew over the keyboard, hands half hidden under leather motorcycle gloves.

 

A… hacker?  Matt wasn’t sure, but he was confused and distracted enough that his grip of the door slipped.  He accidentally leaned his weight into it, lost his balance, and shoved it open as he stumbled into the room, resulting in a loud  _ crash _ as the metal door smacked into a nearby desk. 

 

The girl at the computer leapt to his feet and spun around, hands flying up and ready.  And well, that wasn’t a girl at all.  Just another ghost that couldn’t seem to leave Matt alone these days, the person standing in the darkened computer lab in the middle of the night was Keith Kogane. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> short chapter this time around, but i promise this is going somewhere


End file.
